Published Apr 14, 2026

Rapper LL Cool J’s Wife Simone Smith, Who Beat Rare Bone Cancer & Just Turned 58, Says She Wakes Up ‘Thankful’ Every Day

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Understanding Sarcoma Cancer

Simone Smith, wife of LL Cool J, has revealed that she wakes up with gratitude every day, after battling a rare form of bone cancer.
The type of cancer Smith beat is called chondrosarcoma. It’s a form of cancer that originates in cartilage cells, typically affecting the bones of the pelvis, chest, arms, and legs.
The word sarcoma refers to a large array of bone and soft tissue cancers. Those are then further broken down into more specific forms of the disease; there are more than 50 types of soft tissue sarcomas.
Smith was diagnosed with the rare bone cancer in 2004 after discovering a knot in her leg. She underwent a 15-hour surgery to remove the tumor and spent two years relearning how to walk. She’s been cancer free ever since.

LL Cool J’s wife Simone Smith, a mom of four who launched her signature jewelry collection after battling stage 3 bone cancer, says she wakes up “thankful” on a daily basis.

Smith, who just turned 58 and has been married to James Todd Smith, best known as American rapper LL Cool J, expressed her ongoing gratitude on the Tamron Hall Show in a recent interview.

“I wake up every morning thankful. I thank God for waking me up in my right mind,” Smith said. “You can’t take life for granted, because life will throw you some curves.”

Smith is no stranger to life’s curveballs, as she was diagnosed with rare stage 3 bone cancer called chondrosarcoma in 2004.

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Recalling how her youngest child was four years old at the time of her diagnosis, Smith admitted her family was what helped her power through the tough times.

“You know, you wake up and you fight, and I trusted God, and I knew that God had me,” she said. “My grandmother was still alive at the time, and I was on her 4 a.m. prayer call every single morning while I was going through it.”

Smith explained further, “You can’t surround yourself with negative people. I just woke up, and I was like, ‘Thank you, Jesus, for waking me up this morning. What do I need to do?'”

Looking back on how how she endured several weeks of physical therapy and two years of learning how to walk again before reaching remission, Smith spoke about the first piece of jewelry she created.

She said it was named “sweet touch of hope,” due to the piece signifying “how sweet life is.”

Smith’s website states that she co-founded Simone I. Smith Jewelry in 2011.

“The idea for her first design came to be following her diagnosis of stage III chondrosarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer. After surgery, she discovered that the lollipop tattoo on her leg was altered,” her official website explains.

“That was the inspiration for her signature lollipop pendant, ‘A Sweet Touch of Hope.’ Then came hoop earrings, bangles, necklaces and her collection of men’s jewelry. Through her partnership with the American Cancer Society, she donates a portion of proceeds from each sale to the ongoing fight against the disease, in every form.”

The Power of Gratitude & Faith

A study published in “Cancer” includes data that found “69% of cancer patients reported praying for their health” compared to “only 45% of the general U.S. population.”

Cancer psychologist Dr. Andrew Kneier helped co-author “Coping with Cancer: Ten Steps toward Emotional Well-Being.” He also co-authored a column published by Stanford Medicine with Rabbi Jeffery M. Silberman, director of spiritual care at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.

The two add more context to the impact faith has on cancer patients.

“A person’s faith or spirituality provides a means for coping with illness and reaching a deeper kind of inner healing,” Kneier and Silberman said.

“Coping means different things to different people: it can involve finding answers to the questions that illness raises, it can mean seeking comfort for the fears and pain that illness brings, and it can mean learning how to find a sense of direction at a time of illness. Religious teachings can help a person cope in all of these dimensions,” Kneier and Silberman continued.

WATCH: Three-time cancer survivor shares how her faith helped her during cancer.

New York City Presbyterian Pastor Tom Evans previously told SurvivorNet about the importance of finding ways to cope with the complex web of feelings you may be experiencing after a challenging health diagnosis, such as cancer.

“It’s important to reach out in a simple prayer to God, even if you’ve never prayed before, you don’t know what to say, a heartfelt plea, ‘God, help me, be with me,’” Pastor Evans said.

“You can reach out to God, and you can reach out to people, your friends and family, and say, ‘I can’t do this on my own. I need you.’ It’s in that willingness to be open and to receive that we can find something deeper that we never would’ve encountered without this hardship,” Evans continued.

WATCH: A Sacred and Blessed Calling

Simone Smith’s Rare Bone Cancer Journey

Simone Smith, who is in remission from a rare form of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma, shared her health journey in an earlier interview with ET, sharing that a “knot” in her leg prompted her to get checked, leading to her diagnosis.

She underwent a grueling 15-hour surgery, where doctors removed her right tibia and replaced it with her left fibula. The procedure also involved inserting a steel rod, screws, nails, and micro veins taken from her other leg.

Smith said, “I was working out with my trainer, walking, talking, not paying no mind, walked into the waste basket and it hit that little knot. That sent me to the doctor, and that’s when I found out I had a chondrosarcoma stage three tumor in my right tibia bone.

“It was a two and a half year recovery, where I had to learn to walk again. I went from a wheelchair to two crutches, to one crutch to a cane.”

Simone, who praised her beloved husband for being her “rock,” also recalled LL Cool J suggesting to give her his own fibula bone as it would be “bigger and stronger.”

Now an advocate for the disease, Smith previously spread awareness in a promotional video for the “Beat Cancer Like a Boss” campaign.

In the video, Smith wears pieces from her own jewelry collection while her husband gazes confidently into the camera and says, “How did my wife beat cancer? Like a boss.” They were joined by celebrities such as Mary J. Blige, Jordin Sparks, and others, all lending their voices to help spread awareness about cancer.

“‘Boss is battling cancer by finding your inner strength,” Smith calmly said, in her promo footage for the American Cancer Center. “Cancer left its mark, but it couldn’t beat the boss within.”

She ultimately launched her own jewelry line to help raise funds for organizations such as the American Cancer Society (ACS). Smith said in an early Instagram post promoting her jewelry, “I passionately love God. I’m passionately in love with my husband. I love and mother my children and grandson with a passion.

“Designing jewelry, that brings style and beauty to all the Queens that wear it, is my PASSION. ”

All About Sarcoma Cancer

Sarcomas are cancers that arise from the cells that hold the body together. They can occur in muscles, nerves, bones, fat, tendons, cartilage or other forms of connective tissues.

“There are hundreds of different kinds of sarcomas, which come from different kinds of cells,” Dr. George Demetri, director of the Sarcoma and Bone Oncology Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.

The word sarcoma refers to a large array of bone and soft tissue cancers; those are then further broken down into more specific forms of the disease, however, we will not list them all as there are more than 50 types of soft tissue sarcomas.

Sarcoma Survivor Kara Ladd found solace in Reiki, Meditation, and Energy Healing During Treatment

“Sarcomas are rare and the cause in most patients is unknown,” Dr. Vishal Gupta, site director of Radiation Oncology at The Blavatnik Family Chelsea Medical Center at Mount Sinai, previously told SurvivorNet.

The word sarcoma refers to a large array of bone and soft tissue cancers, and individual cancers within that set go by unique names. For instance, other types of sarcomas include:

Chondrosarcoma is an uncommon form of bone cancer that originates in the cartilage cells. Among adults, it is the most frequently occurring type of bone cancer.
Ewing’s sarcoma is a cancer that typically occurs in and around the bones, often in the arms or legs, or the bones of the pelvis. It most commonly occurs in children and young adults.
Kaposi sarcoma is a very rare type of cancer that causes lesions on the skin, in lymph nodes, organs, and the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, and throat. It typically affects people with compromised immune systems, such as those with HIV.
Epithelioid sarcoma is a type of soft tissue cancer that grows slowly. It is likely to begin under the skin of areas like the finger, hand, forearm, lower part of the leg, or foot.
Synovial sarcoma, also called malignant synovioma, is a cancer that can form soft tissues such as muscle or ligaments, commonly close to joints or in areas like the arm, leg, or foot.
Osteogenic sarcoma, also called osteosarcoma, starts in the bone, often as it is forming as a young person grows.
Spindle cell sarcoma is very rare, comprising as little as 2 percent of all primary bone cancer cases. It can start in the bone, often in the arms, legs, and pelvis, and usually occurs in people over 40.
Angiosarcoma: a rare cancer that develops in the inner lining of blood vessels and lymph vessels. It can occur anywhere in the body but is most often found in the skin, breast, liver and spleen.

The typical symptom of sarcomas is a slow-growing, painless mass. But sarcoma can be hard to detect through symptoms. “Unfortunately, most sarcomas do not cause many of the symptoms that may be associated with other cancer,” Dr. Dale Shepard, director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute Phase I and Sarcoma Programs, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.

Shepard explains that this often leads to large tumors at the time of diagnosis. “Soft tissue sarcomas are typically painless,” he says.

“Bone sarcomas may be mistaken for orthopedic injuries. A mass the size of a golf ball or larger and growing should be evaluated as a potential sarcoma. It’s important that patients who do have symptoms are not dismissive of them.”

Understanding Bone Cancer and How It Is Treated

Primary bone cancer means the cancer originates in the bone itself, and it is extremely rare—“less than one percent,” the National Cancer Institute says. Most bone cancer is a secondary cancer, meaning it originated elsewhere in the body.

WATCH: Bone Marrow Biopsy

The main types of primary bone cancers include:

Osteosarcoma can grow quickly and spread to other parts of the body.
Chondrosarcoma, which begins in the cartilage tissue.
Ewing sarcoma is a fast-growing tumor that can spread to other parts of the body.
Chordoma is a rare, slow-growing tumor. It is more likely to form in the spine.

People diagnosed with bone cancer may experience pain or swelling near a bone. However, not all bone cancers and tumors (benign and malignant) present symptoms.

Treatment options depend largely on specific details of the cancer and the patient’s overall health. However, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, and cryosurgery (freezes cancer cells to kill them) are common treatment methods.

When Cancer Spreads to Your Bones

As noted above, when cancer originates in the bone, it’s considered primary bone cancer. However, when cancer reaches advanced stages and spreads to other parts of the body in a process called metastasis, the bones are susceptible to that spread. When cancer spreads to the bones, it is considered secondary cancer.

Certain cancers are more likely to spread to the bones compared with other cancers. The most common cancer types that spread to the bone are breast, prostate, and lung cancer.

However, if you have been diagnosed with one of these cancers it does not mean that it will spread your bones, as most people with these cancers can be cured when the cancer is caught early before it has time to spread.

What It Feels Like When Cancer Spreads to the Bones

When cancer spreads to the bone, it can cause many different symptoms. The most common symptom of cancer that spreads to the bone is pain. This pain is often very focal, meaning you can typically point to where you have the pain. The pain is sometimes described as a gnawing pain that is always present and does not go away without pain medication.

Although most pain can be localized to a specific point, this is not always the case, and it’s possible you may have a more vague, achy type of pain. Although most people with bone metastases will have pain, some will not have any symptoms at all and will only know the cancer has spread when they have imaging tests such as CT scans or MRIs.

The most common bony area for cancer to spread to is the spine. When cancer spreads to the spine, it often causes back pain. This pain is also usually localized and may get worse with activity. Some people may describe this pain as a gnawing or dull pain that is always present. Other patients may have more serious symptoms, such as weakness in their legs and arms and changes in their sensations. Although the spine is the most common, cancer can also spread to other bones, such as the hips and shoulders.

Treatment for Bone Metastasis

Fortunately, there are many treatments for bone metastases. For people who are experiencing symptoms such as bone pain, your doctor may recommend radiation therapy. Radiation is extremely effective in treating pain and symptoms caused by bone metastases. Radiation is delivered non-invasively over one to ten days and targets the areas in the bone where the cancer cells are present.

Most people will have significant pain relief with radiation, and some may have all of their pain go away after having radiation. By using radiation, many in treatment can avoid using strong pain medications that often cause fatigue and constipation.

Radiation, when used to treat bone pain or other symptoms of cancer, is called palliative radiation therapy. Because it is given in gentle doses that help with symptoms, often there are very few side effects. Suppose you have bone metastasis that’s not causing you any symptoms. In that case, your doctor may take several approaches, including starting systemic therapy such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or targeted agents, or if you are already on one of these medications, your doctor may recommend switching to a new form of systemic therapy.